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Internal Communications Guideline

Good internal communications are everyone’s responsibility. An internal communications platform has now been established at Stanislaus State. As a result of feedback and questions from faculty and staff, the need for a set of internal guidelines has become clear.

This page provides guidelines on how to effectively utilize StanNews and Warrior Weekly to share your individual, department or college information, news and events.

Objectives

What are the objectives of StanNews and Warrior Weekly (our internal communications newsletters)?

Improve communication across the University by enhancing and creating a clear, consistent effective internal communications channel that is also accessible.

Influence the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of faculty, staff and students by putting Stan State strategic plan at the heart of all communications.

Encourage pride and loyalty by celebrating faculty/staff and student achievements, and showcasing the very best the University has to offer.

Drive forward change. Well-informed faculty/staff/students know where they are, where they are going and how they are expected to get there.

Build community.

Be recognized as the official source of University news.

The launch of StanNews, and the student companion, Warrior Weekly, provides a platform to streamline and align all communications.

StanNews

Sent every Wednesday summarizing latest University news stories, events, etc.

AUDIENCE/STAKEHOLDER: faculty/staffPURPOSE: Sent to all faculty and staff, this is an e-newsletter of key university information and shares information submitted online by faculty/staff as well as information on the University webpages.RESPONSIBILITY: Communications and Public Affairs (CPA)FREQUENCY: Weekly

Warrior Weekly

AUDIENCE/STAKEHOLDER: StudentsPURPOSE: Sent to all students, this is an e-newsletter of key university information and shares information submitted online by faculty/staff as well as information on the student webpages.RESPONSIBILITY: Enrollment Services and Communications and Public AffairsFREQUENCY: Weekly

Items NOT to be shared in StanNews or Warrior Weekly

Specific local information to be distributed within a department or division only.

Exceptions

Currently, several individuals across campus have the ability to send all faculty and staff emails via "Campus Announcements". As part of the guidelines for improving internal communications at Stan State, we propose this function be eliminated and sent from stannews@csustan.edu. It is proposed that Communications and Public Affairs (and/or Enrollment Services for student communications) have the primary ability to send out emails to all faculty/staff and students when required, with the caveat that some occasional all-user communications from specific departments, such as HR, OIT and the President are necessary to the wider University community. Such email communication should be regulated and limited to:

Time-sensitive communications that affect critical operations of the University (urgent messages such as those regarding a power outage, network/phone outage, UPD incident, HR deadlines or those requiring an immediate response/attention from a particular audience)

It is important to set limits on this, to ensure we are aligning communications as requested by faculty, staff and students in surveys. Messages that meet the criteria above should be approved by the Vice President (or their designee) of the respective area. When sending these emails, please check with Communications and Public Affairs to check that it won’t compete/clash with other emails, as to ensure your message is as successful as possible.

We recognize that many departments have their own newsletters. We request that the person coordinating these newsletters become Brand/Communication Ambassadors and connect with Communications and Public Affairs so that any messages are coordinated and consistent with those being shared and sent University wide by CPA.

Communications and Public Affairs and Enrollment Services will work with all departments/units to attempt to find the most suitable medium and method for any communication.

Contact

Communications and Public Affairs is continually working to improve the University’s communication channels. If you have any suggestions for improvements, please contact Rosalee Rush, senior associate vice president for marketing, communications and media relations by emailing rbrush@csustan.edu.